Lan647
1000+ Head-Fier
Quote:
No, they're a very dark brown. Great leather, great foam.
Okay
No, they're a very dark brown. Great leather, great foam.
i can't believe it. my LCD-2 sounds..... thin. compared with the LCD-3.
I'm switching between both right now. source: laptop --> wavelength proton --> woo audio WA6SE --> LCD3/2.
What? The LCD-2 is definitely as fleshy as I can allow and still call it relatively neutral. Your'e saying the 3 is even fleshier? Sounds like a colored headphone to me...
have you heard the LCD-3? I wouldn't have thought that myself, because when comparing with the hd800/T1/he6 when i got my lcd-2, the lcd-2s produced the most rounded sound among the latter. but the current lcd-3 just takes it to another level. the lcd-2's sound production feels alot more pinpoint compared to the lcd-3s which sound more balanced from all directions.
the lcd-3s also sound alot more upfront and intimate, without sacrificing the depth, seemingly bringing the sound closer but yet maintaining the distance. The effect is a accentuated depth previously not achieved with other headphones i've tried, with more 3 dimensional weight. the mid bass is also alot more powerful with the lcd-3, which makes it a fuller, more warm sound. at the same time highs seem more pronounced, and on a few tracks with violins I thought they were hard to listen to, but i've always been sensitive to highs. the sweeter treble, however, seems to be balanced out by the additional weight at the bottom end. i typically eschew equipment that just adds powerful highs and thumpier bass over previous iterations and are marketed as upgrades, because the result just sounds....fake. but the weight added here doesn't feel artificial because it's balanced by the depth, which is what brings all this improvement together. it's hard to describe in words (for those who're confused by what i've written), but i'd say that it's a very significant difference compared to the lcd-2. maybe it's artificial, maybe it's not. I wouldn't know unless the guy who mixed it listens through my equipment and tells me which it is, but it for sure, sounds BETTER, and that's all I really care about, as would most people.
@Lan647, even though the lcd-3s are ahead of the lcd-2, i'd say that it's nowhere close to what u'd get from a very well treated room with top quality speakers, in terms of staging and overall experience, although the headphones already offer a very intimate and endearing experience. there's still alot of room for improvement with headphones as a class of aural reproductive instruments. the day when binaural equipment intrinsically produces sound equivalent to that which can be achieved through enhancement with equipment like the Smyth Realizer is the day we can say headphones have reached a technological threshold in terms of fleshiness, depth, and staging. although the lcd-3s are in a class of their own, they're not perfect, as no headphone will be for the forseeable future. although i love my lcd-2, i have faith in technology, and i'm glad the lcd-3s are good step ahead. dissing them as non-neutral is not really fair by any measure, and is just downright naive, especially if you haven't even heard them. there was a saying on head-fi that the hd800 was a very good pair of headphones, but the lcd-2 sounded like real life, or something like that. well, the lcd-3 just takes that to another level.
Well I haven't heard the LCD-3 but I definitely think the LCD-2 is a dark headphone. It is a fun sounding headphone with extremely smooth mids and awesome bass, but HD 800 is just more neutral to my ears. I was just surprised to see opinions about the LCD-3 being even more fleshy and warm when it's priced so high. I think a headphone priced at almost 2000 dollars should be neutral. People seem to mistake neutrality for what sounds "best" to their ears. If a dark headphone sounds absolutely "right" to me it doesn't make it true to life.
It is ultimately about the music and one's personal preferences of course, and I appreciate the LCD-2. Heck, I love it. But neutral it is not. And if the 3 doesn't improve tonal balance it it priced ridiculously high IMO.
Lan647 I wouldn´t call HD800 neutral. It has really boosted treble and bass cut out almost complitely. That is a colored headphone. I can´t understand how anyone can listen to these headphones. I think HD600 is even more natural than HD800, although HD600 treble is quite harsh and also lacks bass, but it is more balanced. HD800 treble vs bass balance is a joke! They don´t sound anything like professional studio enviroment with great speakers, great room and a sub.